2012 will be make or break for many businesses. Has business survival ever been more dependent on knowing how consumers will react in the future? This detailed analysis highlights the four key strategies consumers will deploy in 2012. Consumer 'End Games' come to the fore in times of uncertainty, where having a survival strategy matters.

1. End Games for 2012

2. End Games
'End Games' talks to the life strategies people carry
inside their heads and use to take decisions
End Games can be explicit or implicit; conscious or
unconscious
End Games come to the fore in times of
uncertainty, where having a survival strategy
matters

3. 4 Key End Games for 2012
New Life: survival lies beyond today's realities
Into The Sun: survival by winning through
Recoiling: curl up and wait your moment
Holding On: just hang in there

4. New Life Into The Sun
Holding On Recoiling

5. End Game: New Life
“Fundamental dissatisfaction with life will lead many
to look for tectonic shifts”
For some, shift will come from real world realignment
- Bloody social and political protests will reach boiling point and extremist figureheads will
emerge to crystallise radicalism
- New technologies will support more and more essential aspects of life, leaving few
everyday needs untouched by Apps
- Many brands will race to the top - meeting 'impossible', extreme aspirations: being newer,
better, rarer
For others, New Life means escape from real world constraints
- Brands will give trapdoors to other, more exciting, Worlds
- Myth-making brands and heros will give people an excuse not to think

6. Message to marketeers
Create a New Life for me
It must have cut though
My aspiration knows no bounds
Ensure it really, I mean really, works
Allow me to dream
Magic me from everyday life
Release racy new emotions
Be convincing so that I can follow you
Think for me
If I accept the cult; I am your worshipper

7. End Game: Into The Sun
“Hard times will bring opportunities
and some will fight and battle through”
For some, 2012 will be a time to get real and knuckle down
- Employees will be prepared to dedicated even more effort at work - perhaps at a cost to
their health
- No stone will be left unturned to get to the top – manipulation, physical fitness, mental
alertness, laser and cosmetic treatments
- Brands will do more to facilitate an 'always on' mentality and a search for perfection
Some people will seek to become 'linchpins'
- Putting themselves at the centre of various social networks to win 'soft power'
- Becoming an information aggregator by tapping into targeted knowledge networks
- Risk taking will become the norm

8. Message to marketeers
Propel me Into The Sun
Give me the tools to get things done effectively
I need to get going and stay going
Move obstructions out of my way
Reward my success
Provide information so I can 'panic early'
Whatever it takes to get ahead of the others
Friends must have their uses
Being the best I can be
Nothing sticks; problems fall like water off a duck's back

9. End Game: Recoiling
“The world turns, but in the mean time, some will
burrow deep, put up their armour and wait”
For some, 2012 will be about hunkering down
- In all aspects of life, don't make waves, keep heads down, let the storm pass
- Importance is given to convenience, slimming down, finding stress and risk free options
- Brands will give safety and security messages and guarantees of being there for the long
term
- Longevity, craftsmanship, quality – these customers seek solidity
Home based activities are preferred
- Home time is valued and indoors provides a safe haven in an uncertain world
- Technology becomes even more pivotal as the way of relating to the World outside

10. Message to marketeers
Help me to Recoil
I need short cuts
I'm not going to exert myself; that will leave me vulnerable
I'm super sensitive regarding my privacy
Spending is dangerous; I'm saving for the long-term
If this will last my lifetime, I'm interested
Short-term is risky
I value comfort, cosiness and having my family around me
Bring the World to me
What is your guarantee?

11. End Game: Holding On
“I'm in the shit;
I'm going to close my eyes and hope for the best”
2012 will be menacing for many
- Economically, some families and communities will fall on extreme, hard times
- Resources will be managed tightly; but excesses will be necessary to let off steam
- Brands will cynically play on luck, hope and naïvety
People will seek 'warmth' wherever it can be found
- Hand outs, freebies, playing the system, crime.....an alternative, opportunistic lifestyle will
prosper
- Value retail gives way to lowest possible price; quality is a luxury that cannot be afforded
- Tone and feel is: “doing whatever it takes” and “trusting to luck”; miracle claims are
believed

12. Message to marketeers
Protect me as I Hold On
If it costs something extra, forget it
I'll stick to what I know, thank you
You'll not catch me out (again)
Tell me precisely what I need to do
If the trial is free, why not?
If I do this for you, what will you do for me?
Can you offer me any shelter at all?
It's good that you seem to be on my side
I look for alternatives to buying stuff

13. New Life Into The Sun
20% 20%
Indicative Consumer Penetration
Holding On Recoiling
30% 30%

14. End Games: Market Mapping
High
Into The Sun
Socio
economic New Life
axis
Recoiling
Holding On
Low
Source:
Socio cultural Futures Coaching
Traditional Modern Nov 2011
axis

15. How to Benefit in 2012
from Consumer's End Games
Work with Futures Coaching:
- bring brand teams up to speed with 2012's key trends
- portfolio mapping vs End Games
- white space analysis
- marketing plan coherence
- future-proof existing NPD pipeline & launch
- focused innovation
- senior management away days

16. About Futures Coaching
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17. for a no obligation
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Email: chris@futurescoaching.com